Judge slams ‘unthinkable’ EU human rights cases as he dismisses claim by two prisoners over slopping out

Appeal judge Lord Justice Davis has criticised the impact of human rights rules as he dismissed a claim by two prisoners to outlaw slopping out in jails in England and Wales

European human rights law is bringing ‘unthinkable’ cases before the British courts, one of the country’s most senior judges said.

Appeal judge Lord Justice Davis criticised the impact of human rights rules as he dismissed a claim by two prisoners to outlaw slopping out in jails in England and Wales.

The evidence presented by a rapist and a paedophile was false, exaggerated and a travesty, the judge declared.

Lord Justice Davis said: ‘It is more or less unthinkable that an action of this kind could have troubled this court, even a few years ago, but the European Convention on Human Rights has changed that.

‘This case has occupied the time of a High Court judge and, notwithstanding his detailed judgement, this case is now the subject of an application for permission to appeal.’

Rapist Desmond Grant, 30 and child rapist Roger Gleaves, 79 - a paedophile notorious under the name Bishop of Medway - brought their claim for the end of slopping out with the help of taxpayer-funded legal aid.

They said that the use of buckets in cells at night and the failure to provide round-the-clock flushing toilets at Albany prison on the Isle of Wight was a breach of their human rights.

Slopping out is used by prisoners in 2000 cells in 10 prisons in England and Wales.

It would have cost the Government £82million to build new facilities at those jails which still have slopping out.

A High Court judge threw out the claim last year in a 37-page judgement that said the buckets were only used rarely, both prisoners had exaggerated their use of them, and there was no evidence that any prisoner had suffered any distress, anxiety, feelings of humiliation or harm.

But lawyers for the two men brought the claim, in which the two prisoners acted as a test case for 300 others - back to the courts to try to open an appeal.

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Hugh Southey QC said on behalf of Grant, who served nearly seven years of a life sentence for rape in Albany, that new European cases heard since the claim was dismissed from the High Court last December meant the decision should now be reversed.

Lord Justice Davis refused permission
for the prisoners to appeal and said: ‘The core substance of this
application is that any use of a bucket in a cell is a no-go area and is
unacceptable, absent only specific security considerations.

‘It is said it is not an inherent part of a prison sentence and cannot remain so in modern times.’

The
Appeal judge added: ‘Mr Justice Hickinbottom in the High Court rejected
much of Mr Grant’s own evidence as false or exaggerated.

‘Aspects
read as if HMP Albany is a prison with no running water or toilet
facilities at all and as if slopping out is the only way prisoners can
deal with their bodily functions. That is a travesty. There is ample
access during the day to washing and toilet facilities.

‘The
prisoners were in single cells, they were of a proper size and
adequately lit and ventilated. Air fresheners were provided in case the
need to urinate or defecate should arise.’

Rapist Desmond Grant said the use of buckets in cells at night at Albany prison on the Isle of Wight was a breach of his human rights

The judge said that the European cases highlighted by Mr Southey had led to compensation awards only if a particular prison’s conditions were poor overall. ‘The European cases don’t even begin to lay down any general guideline in cases of this type.

‘There is a certain sensitivity to feelings of degradation attached to the status of being subject to forced incarceration. But that doesn’t mean that unreality needs to descend into this area.

‘The use of a bucket in a cell as a back-up to the other entirely adequate sanitary facilities available doesn’t even begin to constitute inhuman or degrading treatment.’

Gleaves was first imprisoned in the 1970s after setting up an organisation that claimed to have church links and using it to pick up vulnerable youngsters at London railway stations.

He was sentenced to 15 years in 1998 for rape of a 14-year-old, attempted rape, incitement of one boy to rape another, and three counts of indecent assault.

At the outset of the slopping out claim Gleaves was awarded £40,000 in legal aid to pursue the case.

The slopping out case is not his first attempt to challenge the Prison Service in the courts. In 2004 Gleaves failed to persuade the High Court that prison authorities had been wrong to discipline him for calling a warder a ‘kraut’.

Gleaves and Grant, like all prisoners, have automatic access to free legal advice.

Paedophile Roger Gleaves has lost a case after claiming it was his human right to have a toilet in his cell following a decision by Mr Justice Hickinbottom

All 143 prisons in England and Wales are required under rules set down by Labour in 2000 to have ‘legal services officers’ whose duty is to ‘identify prisoners who may be eligible for publicly funded legal services’ and put them in touch with lawyers from law firms from the officially-approved list of legal aid lawyers.

Both men have been represented by the North London firm Scott-Moncrieff, which specialises in prison law.

The firm says it is one of the largest prison law firms in the country and represents hundreds of prison law clients each year. It tells potential clients: ‘We have a contract with the Legal Services Commission so can offer legal aid.’

The firm’s managing partner, Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, is currently the head of the professional body for solicitors. She took over as president of the Law Society in July.

All prisons have flushing cells for use in the daytime, but for slopping out inmates access to toilets is restricted at night.

While the prison is locked down, they must press a call button and ask to be let out of their cell to use the toilet.

Each prisoner is allowed six to 10 minutes out of his cell, but only one prisoner at a time is allowed out on to the landings. If there is a queue, those who cannot wait must use the slop-bucket.

Mr Justice Hickinbottom said in the High Court that use of the buckets by prisoners to urinate was ‘rare’ and to defecate ‘very rare’.

The prisons with slopping out are Albany, Blundeston, Bristol, Bulwood Hall, Coldingley, Gloucester, Grendon, Brockhill and Long Lartin.

Most of the cells involved accommodated single prisoners.

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Judge slams ¿unthinkable¿ EU human rights cases as he dismisses claim by two prisoners over slopping out